Tips for making a presentation

An audience naturally has a limited attention span. A typical attention curve for an audience shows that almost everyone is listening at the beginning, but halfway through a 30-minute presentation it could have dropped off to as low as 15-20%. During the conclusion people will listen again in the hope of learning something from the presentation. So, at the beginning, when everyone is listening, make your arguments clear and state why the presentation is important to your audience in order to keep their attention. State your message loud and clear at the beginning of the presentation as well as at the end. A good tactic is to divide the presentation into several clearly defined parts, each with their own intermediate conclusion.

a) The speaker assumes that the audience is well versed in the background information surrounding the theme of the presentation. It is rare that they will be as knowledgeable about it as the speaker.
b) The line of reasoning is hard to follow. The aims, the potential problems and the motivation of the presentation should be made clear.
c) Visual aids are cluttered and unclear, confusing the audience and causing them to switch off.
d) The speaker uses unnecessary jargon and long convoluted sentences. Passive sentences are more difficult to follow than active ones. If you wish to read from a script, it is important to remember that written language is normally more formal and complicated than spoken language and one tends to go a lot faster reading from a script than talking without one. It is tempting if you are not confident speaking in English, but an audience, many of whom may not have English as their first language, will be more tolerant of a few mistakes than someone reading from a text. Monotonous sentences, lack of emphasis, unclear pronunciation, turning one’s back and watching the projection screen instead of making eye contact with the audience will all reduce the attention span of the audience.

Eight steps to a successful presentation

Your presentation will be most effective if you use the same everyday language in which you explain things to a fellow worker. There is absolutely no need to use a more formal language. Do not try to impress the audience with fancy words, formal constructions, subject-specific jargon or unnecessary abbreviations. Think about oral presentations in terms of communication and do not see it as the performance of a literary play. The audience will be grateful if you are easy to follow.

Audience attention curve
An audience naturally has a limited attention span. A typical attention curve for an audience shows that almost everyone is listening at the beginning, but halfway through a 30-minute presentation it could have dropped off to as low as 15-20%. During the conclusion people will listen again in the hope of learning something from the presentation. So, at the beginning, when everyone is listening, make your arguments clear and state why the presentation is important to your audience in order to keep their attention. State your message loud and clear at the beginning of the presentation as well as at the end. A good tactic is to divide the presentation into several clearly defined parts, each with their own intermediate conclusion.

What distracts an audience?
a) The speaker assumes that the audience is well versed in the background information surrounding the theme of the presentation. It is rare that they will be as knowledgeable about it as the speaker.
b) The line of reasoning is hard to follow. The aims, the potential problems and the motivation of the presentation should be made clear.
c) Visual aids are cluttered and unclear, confusing the audience and causing them to switch off.
d) The speaker uses unnecessary jargon and long convoluted sentences. Passive sentences are more difficult to follow than active ones. If you wish to read from a script, it is important to remember that written language is normally more formal and complicated than spoken language and one tends to go a lot faster reading from a script than talking without one. It is tempting if you are not confident speaking in English, but an audience, many of whom may not have English as their first language, will be more tolerant of a few mistakes than someone reading from a text. Monotonous sentences, lack of emphasis, unclear pronunciation, turning one’s back and watching the projection screen instead of making eye contact with the audience will all reduce the attention span of the audience.

Eight steps to a successful presentation

Preparation
Preparation is key. Writing a presentation the night before is almost sure to result in a confused and patchy presentation. Give yourself plenty of time to plan and revise your presentation.

Clear message
Try to sum up the message of you presentation in a single sentence. This will also help you focus the presentation.

Order material
Although it may seem logical to present your argument chronologically, this may not be the best way to maintain your audience’s attention. Think of the highlights of your conclusions and spread them out through the presentation. The conclusion is there for bringing all the highlights together.

Opening and introduction
It is in the first few sentences that you capture the attention of the audience. If it will help to present your conclusions first then do so. A presentation is not a detective story it is not necessary to surprise your audience with the conclusion at the end.

Conclusions and ending
Make sure the audience knows when you have reached the summing up part of the presentation. This will increase the attention that the audience gives to it. Even if you have already presented your conclusions in an earlier part of the presentation, it bears repeating. Again, try and sum up the gist of the presentation in a single sentence that your audience can remember easily.

Visual aids
Pictures and graphs can help your presentation enormously. However, make sure that they are clear and concise (only the relevant information is included), easy to read (with large letters and good contrast) and self-explanatory (a clear title and conclusion if appropriate). Remember an audience will read everything you show and while they are doing this will be distracted from what you are saying.

Communicate, don’t perform
Your presentation will be most effective if you use the same everyday language in which you explain things to a fellow worker. There is absolutely no need to use a more formal language. Do not try to impress the audience with fancy words, formal constructions, subject-specific jargon or unnecessary abbreviations. Think about oral presentations in terms of communication and do not see it as the performance of a literary play. The audience will be grateful if you are easy to follow.

Timing
Practise the presentation beforehand and time it. Keep within the time allotted. Remember your audience has a limited attention span, so the shorter and more concise the presentation, the more impact it will have.